


Scars

by ThePendragonQueen



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Abused Leo Valdez, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Depression, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Leo Valdez, Leo Valdez Needs a Hug, Past Child Abuse, Sad, Scars, Self Harm, Whump, all past self harm, angsty, leo has scars, leo has scars on his body, leo valdez - Freeform, leos past, not explicit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-26 20:45:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18185522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePendragonQueen/pseuds/ThePendragonQueen
Summary: Leo Valdez refuses to take his shirt off. He doesn't like what's underneath. The skinny body. The frail arms. The long scars that cover it all over. It's hard to hide them all the time but he's doing his best. Hopefully the others won't ever see what he's covered in. Hopefully they'll never ask how he got them all. He wasn't sure he could explain just how all those marks got there.





	1. Dirty Shirt, Dirty Hands, Dirty Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I hope you enjoy this quick little story! Most of the chapters are pretty short up until the last one.

The one thing Leo Valdez almost never went without was a shirt.

He was always wearing one and they were usually long sleeve if he could help it. Hanging out- shirt. Eating- shirt. Cooking- shirt. Sleeping- shirt. If he didn't absolutely have to take his shirt off he wouldn't. It would probably have to be a life or death situation for him to take it off.

No one ever really noticed this. It had never really occurred to them until one day when they were on the Argo II on their quest. They were all eating really messy spaghetti- courtesy of Leo. Everyone was around the table, eating and hanging out, talking about the quest. Nobody was really paying attention to Leo at the moment, too caught up in their significant other to pay attention to the lonely boy at the end of the table. The other six chatted while Leo played around with his spaghetti. He was moving it back and forth on his plate, twirling it around his fork, and slurping it up like a vacuum causing him to make loud, obnoxious noises that made the others give him a glare everyone in a while.

 _Maybe that's why they don't talk to me,_ Leo thought to himself. _I act too much like a five year old. Maybe I should grow up._ Leo dazed into his food pondered wether or not he should actually act like a fifteen year old or keep acting like he was seven and allow himself to remember the only good time in his life, when his mom was still around.

There was a loud squeak and some clatters of plates. Leo looked up to see that everyone had finished eating and Hazel was picking up the plates from everyone. "Hey, Leo, are you done eating?" She asked him with her hand out for the plate.

"Yeah, it's fine, I'll take the dishes," Leo said standing up with his plate in his hand.

"It's fine, Leo, I'm already up." Hazel assured.

"No, no, I'll get it, sit back down," Leo insisted. Hazel sighed and sat back down. Leo walked over to gather all the plates on the table. He wasn't paying attention and hit his arm on the corner of Frank's chair causing his arm to fling back and his plate to fling back towards him as well. " _Damnit_ ," Leo cursed, looking down at all the sauce now on his, used-to-be-white shirt.

"Oh, Leo, you got sauce all over your shirt," Piper said sympathetically in that mom sounding voice. "Here, take your shirt off so I can wash it."

No, it's fine," Leo said setting his plate down, grabbing a napkin and attempting to wipe of as much sauce from the shirt as possible.

"No, don't wipe, dab. Dab it, Leo, dab it. You gotta dab other wise it's going to be worse," Piper explained to him. She sighed as Leo just continued to wipe. "Here, just give it to me, I'll have it cleaned up in no time," she said walking over to him and motioning for him to take his shirt off.

Leo took a step back rom her defensively. "It's fine, I think we can leave my shirt on for now, I'll jut take the dishes to the kitchen and then go change. I'll be sure to give you the shirt to clean." Leo grabbed the plates off the table as quick as possible and rushed out to the kitchen before Piper tried to use her charmspeak on him.

"Well, okay then. Are you sure you don't need help with the dishes?" Piper called to him as he grabbed the plates and started walking.

"No, I'm fine!" He yelled as he walked out of the room.

Everyone looked around at each other for a couple of seconds before Percy spoke up. "Well, that was kinda... weird and un-Leo like."

"Yeah did anyone notice how defensive he got?" Hazel questioned. Everyone nodded.

"He refused to take his shirt off and give it to Piper to clean. Don't know why and don't understand the big deal but whatever," Annabeth shrugged as she stood up from the table. She looked at Percy and grabbed his hand. "We'll take this watch," she said to the other before leaving.

Everyone nodded as they walked off. "You know, now that I think about it, I've never seen him with his shirt off," Jason mumbled.

Piper nodded. "Yeah you're right, I haven't either and I've known him the longest."

Frank shrugged as he stood up from the table. "I'm sure it's nothing. Maybe he just doesn't like how skinny he is or something, I don't know, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'm sure he's fine."

The others nodded and stood up from the table as well and walked off to prepare and plan and sleep.

Nobody ever really thought about it again.


	2. Blood

They were on a quick trip off the ship trying to find some parts for the ship that had been broken and needed to be replaced. They had split up into different groups and assigned different materials to get. Leo was with Piper for this one as Jason stayed at the ship ready to defend it with the help of Coach Hedge. It wasn't long into the trip when they ran into some trouble.

There was a giant creature in front of them, pure black with sharp claws and teeth. It looked like if the night was an animal. Leo and Piper were doing their best to fend it off. The creature took a swing and Leo jumped back, barely missing his stomach. The sharp claws had almost got him, almost carved him up even more. He really didn't need anymore of that.

Leo ran at the monster, hands ablaze. He didn't see what the monster had hit after he missed his claws. He didn't hear the grunt from Piper or her knife crashing to the floor, her body right after.

Leo shot at the monster with white hot flames. The creature shrieked in pain and stepped back in fear, it's arm sizzling from the fire. Leo threw another flame at the monster. It cried out and quickly retreated, back to wherever it had come from. It didn't seem very interested in loosing it's life and going back to Tartarus.

Leo turned back around to Piper. "Well, that wasn't _that_ bad. No major harm done," he smirked whipping off his hands on his shirt.

"Leo..."

The croak was small and weak. Leo looked down to the voice. Piper was laying on the ground and holding her arm that had a significant amount of blood coming out of it. Her face was all scrunched up in pain. "Leo... help, please."

"Oh my Gods, Piper, I didn't even notice, are you okay? Oh crap, of course you're not okay, you're bleeding out. _Idiota,_ " he mumbled to himself. He bent down to Piper to look at her wound. It was a large gnash on her bicep. The wound was deep and bleeding a lot. He knew he had to do something to stop it. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap," he mumbled to himself as he tried to figure out what to do. He needed something to tie around her arm so that the bleeding would stop. Something like a cloth or a rag but he didn't have anything around him. All he had was his clothes.

Leo cursed in his head. He knew what he had to do but he didn't want to do it. He took his shirt off in one swift motion and tied it around Piper's arm. Thankfully, Piper seemed to distracted by the pain to notice his body. There was blood and lots of it. On the bright side, there was so much blood that as Leo was bandaging her up it got all over his stomach and chest, doing a good job of covering up any scars. On the downside, Piper was in critical condition and there was blood all over him which was frankly gross and disturbing, especially since it was Piper's.

Leo tied his shirt around her arm tightly, applying pressure and attempting to stop any blood from coming out of it as much as possible. With a groan he stood up and hefted Piper up as well. She was weak so he had to wrap her arm around him in order to help drag her back to the ship.

"C'mon, Piper, we gotta get back to the ship so that the others can help patch you up." Piper just nodded.

It took a couple of minutes but they were finally back at the ship. Leo helped Piper get on the ship. "Hey, guys, I could use a little help please!" He shouted to the rest.

Jason, Coach Hedge, Hazel, and Frank ran up on the deck. "Oh, my Gods, Piper!" Hazel shouted, tears already starting to brim in her eyes.

"What happened?" Jason questioned, running up and grabbing Piper.

"Monster... sharp claws... lots of blood," Leo huffed out of breath.

Jason wrapped Pipers arm around his shoulders and wrapped his arm around her waist. "C'mon, we gotta get her down stairs and fix her up." He headed off down to the infirmary, carrying Piper much easier than Leo had.

"Yeah, you guys go, I'm gunned go take a shower and wash all of this blood off of me," Leo said quickly running downstairs. He hurried away from everyone, trying to keep his front towards them so that no one saw his back which was fully exposed and full of ugly scars for everyone to see. For the most part, everyone seemed too concerned to notice any marks on Leo but as he walked down the hallway to the bathroom he couldn't help but cross his arms over his stomach and feel self conscious.

He wanted to get away from everyone as fast as possible. He wanted to get in and out of the shower and put a shirt back on quickly. He didn't want to keep looking at all the red and white marks on his skin. All the blemishes that marked each defacement ever made on him. Each one had a story and he knew them all and he hated to think about them. One short, red one on the top right of his chest- a gang. A long, white one running all the way across his stomach- foster mom. Another small one that was pinkish on his side- bullies from school. And those were just a couple. He had more all over his front, and even more, worse ones on his back. He was glad he couldn't see those. Each scar had a story that was as terrifying as the next and he wanted nothing to do with them.


	3. Shower Marks

As Leo stepped out of the shower he quickly wrapped himself in a towel. He cursed as he realized in his rush to get here he had forgotten to grab some clothes from his room. He would have to run to his room in a towel as quick as possible. He was only two rooms down, it would be quick and easy, not much. How hard could it be?

It turned out to be very hard.

Everyone was now back on the ship and Leo had no clue where all of them where. The chances of seeing someone while going to his room were way too high. He had to find a way to cover himself just in case he did see anybody. Leo stared at the towel for a few seconds trying to figure out how he was going to do this. He finally settled on wrapping the towel around his chest, the same way girls do.

Leo walked over to the door and stuck his head out to see if anyone was coming. He quickly turned his head back and forth. No one. He would have to go now- and fast. He quickly threw the door open and walked fast to his room.

Almost there...

"Hey, Leo," Percy said as he turned the corner and strolled down the hallway.

Leo had to stop himself from groaning out loud. So close. "Oh, hey Percy, you're back!"

"Yeah, I heard about what happened with Piper," Percy said still keeping Leo in the hallway talking. He was now walking towards him. Leo didn't want him to get any closer, not while he was only in a towel. He would see all of the marks.

"Yeah, that was pretty bad..." Leo mumbled holding his towel tighter.

Percy nodded as he kept walking towards him. "Yeah, I just saw her, she's doing a lot better."

"Oh, that's good. Thank the God's she's okay, I was really worried," Leo said holding his towel tighter still as Percy finally reached him.

"Yeah, she's fine, it's all good," Percy said. It was quiet for a moment. Leo was struggling to find something to say to leave but he couldn't think of anything that wouldn't sound awkward. Percy was the one to finally break the silence. "Hey, uh, Leo? How come you have your towel wrapped around your body like that? Guy's usually have it... you know... only around the waist."

Leo gulped as he thought of something to say back. Something witty like he always does. Something- anything. "Wouldn't want anyone seeing my boobs, now would we?" He finally said with his signature mischievous smirk.

They both laughed at it. Percy's laugh was sincere while Leo's was just nervous. "Well, uh, I'm- I'm gunna go put some clothes on. Clothes are pretty cool. I enjoy wearing those a little more than just a towel," Leo said starting to slide his way around Percy.

Percy chuckled. "Alright man, see you at Dinner," Percy said as he watched Leo turn his back on him and walk away. Percy could have sworn he could see some lines on his back. Just a couple protruding out from behind his towel and right below where his now wet hair reached. Leo was too far away for him to tell what it was. Percy shrugged and turned around and kept walking off to find Annabeth. The marks on Leo's back quickly leaving his mind.


	4. Swimming

They were ask sitting on the beach staring at the waves. It was a couple months after the war. They had won, everyone had lived (except technically Leo but he came back so it was all good), and Leo had brought Calypso back from her island. Things were finally going well.

They were all sitting on the beach talking to each other and just hanging out and enjoying life. There aren't many times when a demigod can do that. It was nice to just relax for once and hang out with friends.

"Hey, you know what would be fun?" Percy asked giving the group a mischievous look. They all stared back at him questioningly. "If we went in the water."

"But, we don't have any bathing suits," Hazel pointed out.

"Aww, c'mon, who cares? We can just go in our clothes. Or take our shirts and jeans off. Underwear is basically the same thing as bathing suits. Plus, who cares if our clothes get wet? We can always dry them," Percy argued back.

Everyone gave him a look. "You're just saying that cause you don't get wet in general and can breath underwater. Of course you want to go in," Annabeth teased.

Percy laughed and stuck his tongue out at her.

"I think we should do it," Jason said. "It'll be fun."

"Yeah, I agree with Percy and Jason," Piper chimed in.

"I don't care, I'll go in," Hazel said. "What about everyone else?"

Frank gave an uneasy look. "I'll go if everyone else wants to go, I guess."

"You should want to go, Frank, you can just turn into a dolphin or something," Leo teased. Everyone laughed and Frank gave a slightly annoyed look tp Leo at which everyone laughed even more. Leo turned to look over at Calypso. "What do you think? Wanna go swimming?"

"Yeah, sure, sounds pretty fun," she answered with a smile.

"Ugh, alright fine, I'll go in," Annabeth said with a sigh and an eyeroll.

"Nice!" Percy yelled taking off his shirt. Jason and Frank immediately followed. Everyone stood up and stripped clear of their pants if they were wearing jeans or anything long.

Leo was the only guy that still had his shirt on. "Leo, why don't you take your shirt off," Jason suggested.

"Nah, I'm good," he replied back.

"You sure? It's a lot better with out a shirt, you don't have anything weighing you down," Jason insisted.

"Really it's fine, I'd rather keep it on," Leo assured him.

"Well, alright, if you insist."

Everyone finished taking off anything they didn't want to get wet. "Last one in is a rotten egg!" Percy shouted running full speed into the water.

Everyone laughed and followed him into the water. Everyone except Calypso and Leo.

"Leo, what's wrong? Why don't you want to take your clothes off?" Calypso questioned Leo, holding him back and looking into his eyes.

"It's nothing, I'm fine, I just don't want to. I like keeping my shirt on."

Calypso seemed dissatisfied with the answer but she let it go and grabbed Leo's hand and ran into the water.

"Boo! Leo's the rotten egg!" Piper shouted teasingly.

"A rotten egg?" Leo inquired. "Rotten eggs are gross. Why can't I be a normal egg? Or a fire egg? Or an Easter egg!" Everyone laughed at Leo, he always knew how to keep things light and funny.

They spent the rest of their night running threw the water and splashing each other. It had been a long tie since they had done something this fun and relaxing. For a minute everything seemed alright. Except for Leo. He was having fun. He loved splashing his friends and being with Calypso but he felt too nervous about the shirt and the water and keeping it on. He was afraid someone might see through it because of the water. Or that it'll lift up in the water. Or that people will keep pressuring him to take it off. He was just too nervous to relax.

While no one pressured Leo or mentioned it again, they did think it was strange. They had never seen the tiny mechanic take his shirt off. Overtime he refused to and overtime he got more and more defensive about it. But why? They didn't wan't to score him so they didn't ak but they couldn't help but wonder why he refused to take his shirt off. Little did they know of all the marks hiding underneath.


	5. Scars On Their Hearts

"Watch out!" Percy called to Jason from the side.

Jason ducked, just barely missing the talons of the monster gliding down to rip him to shreds. "Thanks, bro," Jason breathed. Percy nodded and continued fighting.

The monsters were everywhere. They had somehow managed to break through the force field and were now flying around camp attacking everyone and everything. They looked like large bats with sharp teeth and claws, ready to eat you alive. Everyone at camp was attempting to get them away as best as possible. The Apollo kids were trying to shoot them down with arrows, the Hephaestus kids were trying to build something quickly to help get rid of the all, and the Ares kids were enjoying all of the fighting.

Most of the younger kids that were too young to fight were in the Big House and protected since having them on the field would be more of a hassle than helpful.

Leo was by Piper and Calypso. Both of the girls were struggling to swat off the monsters with swords and knives while Leo attempted to hit them with his slamming hammer.

There was a streak of brown and black as Hazel rode by on Arion trying to get the surprise attack on the creatures before they could see her. Things were going fairly well for the most part. They had taken down a good amount of them and no one was significantly hurt. The only problem was that there was still a lot of the monsters left.

Everyone continued fighting for a couple minutes. Leo managed to catch some on fire, Frank shot at some with his arrows, and everyone else was slicing them out of the side. Leo hit another one on the head and watched as it crumpled to the floor. A couple of feet away from him he heard a yelp. He looked over to find Calypso's sword on the floor, her arm bleeding.

"Calypso!" Leo yelled quickly rushing over. The monster dove down at Calypso ready to kill her in an instant. Leo quickly threw a fire ball at it. It wasn't perfect aim but it was enough to hit its wing and cause it to go spiraling out of control. It crashed to the ground and stood up, crawling its way towards Leo. Leo stood in front of Calypso fending it off with his flaming hammer as Calypso held on the her arm that was bleeding everywhere. Leo slated at the monster keeping it away with the fire.

"Leo, watch out!" Calypso yelled looking up and seeing another one come from the side. Leo quickly swiped up to hit that one but narrowly missed. It was a lot harder fending off two on his own. The first one clawed at him again while the second one flew around teasingly. Leo smacked the one on the ground back and ducked to miss the one flying. He was getting tired, fighting these things by himself was hard. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Piper running over to help them but it was too late. The one on the floor jumped at Leo while the one in the air dove straight down to Calypso. He quickly hit the one coming at him with his hammer but it got knocked out of his hands. There wasn't enough time to go and pick it back up. In a desperate attempt to save Calypso he jumped in front of her, hands out, hoping for the best but he knew he couldn't win.

Leo closed his eyes and braced himself for the pain that was about to come and oh, did it come. The monsters sharp talons drove straight into Leo's chest and stomach, significantly cutting him up. Calypso screamed in horror as she caught Leo before he hit the ground. Luckily, Piper was there and she quickly slashed the monster, turning it into a pile of dust. Calypso cradled Leo in her arms. His eyes barely open and his breathing was shallow.

"No, no, no. Come on, Leo, please," She mumbled through tears. She did her best to apply pressure to Leo's wounds. He was bleeding profoundly. "Come on, stay with me, Leo."

Piper slashed at the other monster that had been crawling on the floor. She managed to get to it right before it attacked Calypso and Leo again. "Get him to the infirmary!" Piper shouted pointing to the area. Calypso nodded and Piper ran off to go help out others.

With a groan, Calypso hefted Leo up and managed to drag him over to the infirmary, all the while mumbling to him in an attempt to keep him conscious. She finally managed to make it over to the infirmary where Will and a couple other Apollo campers where patching up people with some minor injuries. "Help," Calypso asked as she threw the door open and lunged into the room.

Everyone turned to look at her. "Quick, help me grab Leo!" Will shouted to the others. They all stopped what they were doing, Leo's wounds much more important and in need of attention. They quickly grabbed him and placed him on a bed. Will carefully took Leo's shirt off in order to tend to his wounds. Leo was unconscious and didn't know but he was finally without a shirt to everyone in the room. However, the scars could barely be seen by the others from the amount of blood on him but it wouldn't be long until they finally looked and acknowledged them. "Someone get Calypso," Will ordered, noticing the wound on her arm. A girl with curly brown hair rushed forward and dragged her over to another bed and began attending to her wound much against her protests.

"Wait, but Leo, is he going to be okay?" She asked never taking her eyes off of him.

"Yes, he'll be fine, we just have to stitch him up. Now, come on, we have to stitch you up too, that's a pretty nasty cut," the girl said dragging her away from Leo.

It took some time but eventually Leo was all stitched up and awake.

By the time he woke up the flying monsters had been gone for a couple hours. Will and the other Apollo Campers had cleaned Leo up and sewn him back together. They gave him some Ambrosia and by the time they were done they decided that there would only be a couple scars left over from the attack. A couple more scars to add to the collection.

When Will finished fixing up Leo he had noticed just how many scars there were on him. And some of them worried him, either from where they were on his body or what they were and where they were from. Will called Calypso over who was doing much better and showed her them. Calypso was shocked. She knew that he had scars on him but she never knew he had quite that many or scars that bad. She had talked to Leo about it before and he had refused to show her and Calypso obliged, she didn't want to push him and make him uncomfortable, she knew that one day he'll show them to her.

Now that day had come and it was bad. Calypso had tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe someone could have done some of the things that it showed to him.

Right before Leo woke up the rest of the seven had come to visit. Will had kept his shirt off in order to let his stitches heal. He warned the seven as they walked into the room but no amount of warning could have readied them for what they saw. As they walked in and looked at Leo they gasped. He was pale from losing so much blood, had 3 long wounds stitched together and countless marks of white, red, and pink running across his body.

Piper looked up at Will in confusion. "What happened? Why does he have so many scars? That's not from the monsters, right?" she asked giving him a worried look.

Will shook his head. "Only those three are from the attack today," he said pointing the the newest ones. "The rest are from... well I'm not completely sure but it looks like a number of things. And look at this one," he said as he walked over to Leo and grabbed his arms. "Don't freak out," Will told them looking in each person's eyes. They all nodded and Will lightly hefted Leo up to show them his back.

Slowly Will lifted up Leo's back and showed it to the others. Everyone gasped loudly. "Oh my Gods," Piper exclaimed in shock, her voice just above a whisper. Hazel was in tears and Jason looked like he was going to be sick. Towards the top of Leo's back, right below his neck and in-between his shoulder blades was the word 'FREAK' scarred in large letters.

"Who... who," Jason stuttered unable to finish his thought.

"Who did this?" Percy finished for him.

Will shrugged. "Dunno. I assume it was one of his foster homes."

Annabeth looked at Calypso curiously, the wheels in her head turning as she thought through all the information. "Did he ever tell you about this?" She asked.

Calypso shook her head sadly. "Never."

Everyone stared at Leo who was now laying back down on the bed. "Well, you can ask him when he wakes up. He'll probably be up soon," Will said to the other before walking away.

"I can't- I just- I can't believe someone would do that to him," Piper said, a tear running down her cheek. Jason put his arm around her and hugged her tightly. They were his best friends and they didn't have any clue that anything like this had ever happened. He never mentioned a thing.

"Well, now we know why Leo never wanted to take his shirt off," Frank noted.

They all sat around for about 15 minutes, talking and thinking, before Leo finally began to stir awake. There was a low mumble from his bed and everyone looked over at him. He mumbled again and tossed his head around, squeezing his eyes tight as he tried to become used to the light of the room. Everyone filed around the small demigod as he blinked trying to focus on all of the faces in front of him.

"Woah, what- what happened? Why are you all crowding around me?" He asked as all the faces came into view. "Geez guys, take a picture, it lasts longer," he spat as they all just continued to look at him in concern. "Uhh, seriously guys, why are you just standing there watching me sleep?" He noticed Hazel's eyes slip downward. He followed their gaze and saw that his chest was bare and exposed to the whole room. He jumped up and grabbed the covers, quickly bringing them up and over his chest, all the way up to his chin.

"Leo, how do you feel? Are you okay?" Calypso asked him, tears in her eyes.

"Calypso! Yeah, yeah, I'm fine now, just feel a little weak," He said smiling at her but still a little nervous at all the eyes that had just been on his body. They had seen it. They had seen them all. He prayed that they hadn't bothered checking his back but the chance of that was slim to none.

Annabeth studied his face and talked slowly. "Leo, where are all those scars from?"

Leo felt a lump in his throat. He couldn't talk about them, he couldn't. He didn't know how. He swallowed hard and spoke up. "Oh, just... monsters and stuff, y'know?" It wasn't very convincing.

Annabeth shot him a look. "Oh, yeah, and I supposed a monster just carved the word 'Freak' into your back right?" Leo's face fell as he shifted uncomfortably. They all waited a moment for him to answer and when he didn't Annabeth went on. "Leo, you need to tell us when and how that happened."

"Why?" Leo questioned. "Why do I have to tell you guys?"

"Because we're your friends, Leo. We want to help you but we can't if you don't tell us what happened," Annabeth replied calmly.

Leo frowned and held onto the sheets tightly. "Well, I don't need your help. I've been doing just fine for the last four years with telling anyone!"

"Four years," Annabeth noted, catching on to what he had said. "So that makes you, what? About 12?" Leo scowled at her. "Look, Leo, we just want to help you and make sure your okay. You can't hide this kinda thing from everyone forever, it'll eat you up. Please, just let us help."

"Please, Leo," Calypso whispered looking at Leo with her brown, almond shaped eyes that were beaded with tears. It broke Leo's heart to see her so sad and he realized that it probably broke her and everyone else's heart to see the marks on his skin.

Leo sighed. "Alright fine, I'll tell you. You're right, I was 12. I had some foster parents. They were abusive. They hated me, especially because of my fire. One day my fire accidentally got out of control. They freaked out and started yelling at me, called me a freak. My mom decided that it would be a good idea to let me know. To have something that would always remind me of how much of a freak I am and how I'll never fit in anywhere. She held me down, grabbed a knife. I don't remember much of it because I tried to block it out but I do remember it hurting like hell. I remember thinking that the pain would never stop. I ran away a couple weeks later. I think that was the last time I ever had my shirt off around other people. After that, I made it my duty to make sure nobody ever saw it. I didn't want people to know about it and start questioning my past and who I am."

Everyone looked at him sadly, tears in all their eyes, some had them coming down their cheeks. "Oh, Leo, why wouldn't you tell me?" Calypso asked leaning into him and giving him a tight hug.

Leo looked down in shame. "I didn't want you to think less of me..." He mumbled quietly.

"No, Leo, I never would," she cried hugging him tighter.

"But, what about the others?" Jason asked curiously.

"Well, some are for the same reason. Actually most. There's a lot from other foster home where I was beat and hit. Some from living on the streets were I fell or got beat up by a gang. Then there's some that are actually from monsters and the War and defeating Gaea. And some from working at the forges. I would hurt myself when building machines." Leo answered.

Annabeth studied Leo all over. He had scars everywhere. On his chest, stomach, back, sides, legs, arms, but if you looked closely enough you could see faint outlines of scars on his wrists. Annabeth looked closely enough to notice. She grabbed Leo's wrist and held it up, facing it to him. "And what about these? You forgot to explain these."

Everyone looked at his wrist in confusion. They hadn't really noticed anything before. Leo's face went pale. "I- uh- those-" he stuttered. He didn't know how to answer. He didn't want to answer. He didn't want to confess what he had done. "I... I made those," he whispered so quietly they could barely hear him.

Everyone stared at him in shock. Everyone except Annabeth who had figure it out already. Calypso, Hazel, and Piper let out a quiet sob. "Leo..." Calypso whispered quietly, holding Leo's other hand tightly.

"I- I don't know. It was a moment of weakness I guess," Leo said sadly.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him. "Moment or moments?"

Leo lowered his head and stared at his lap. "Moments," he muttered.

"When, Leo? And why? What made you do it? Please, tell us so we can help," Annabeth said prodding him on softly.

"I don't remember all of them, I lost track. I know there was a lot of cutting when I was younger. All the foster homes, living on the streets... loosing my mom- it all took a toll on me. I stopped for a little once I met Piper at Wilderness School. But then all the quests started and Jason came along and- and sometimes I felt really alone and left out," he said the last part quietly. He didn't want to hurt Piper and Jason. He didn't want to make them feel bad. Of course that's exactly what happened. Jason and Piper stood there in shock. Leo watched as their face slowly fell as they realized that they had cause the little Latino so much grief that they had led him to the darkest parts of his mind and pushed him to do one of the worst things imaginable.

"Leo... I- I'm so sorry," Jason stuttered. He couldn't find the right words. Nothing could make up for it.

"It's fine, really. I was just being dumb, I shouldn't have taken it so seriously and freaked out so much," Leo said waving him off.

"What? Leo are you crazy? You can't blame yourself for that! We were complete assholes and now that I think back, we completely pushed you away. Leo, we didn't mean to, at all, but that doesn't excuse the fact that we still did. I know that nothing can be said to make up for what we did but please believe me when I say that we are truly sorry. We didn't realize and we really should have. I am so sorry," Piper said as tears started to make their way down her face. What they had done was unforgivable but Leo seemed pretty okay with it. As if he had already gotten over it by himself or if he was just so used to people pushing him away, he just didn't care anymore.

Annabeth looked at Leo. "And after that? Did you ever cut again?"

Leo gulped. "Yeah, a couple times. Once we got to camp I just felt really alone and so much pressure to build the Argo II and I was under a lot of stress. I felt like I had no one and I... well, yeah."

Annabeth nodded. "That's partially my fault as well. I shouldn't have pushed you so much, I was rude, I'm sorry." Leo nodded slowly. "That wasn't the last time, was it?" Annabeth asked, studying Leo's face. He shook his head.

"The last couple times I did it was on the quest, on the Argo II. Same thing. I just felt left out and lonely and I didn't know how to deal with my grief and my nightmares and my pain. I should have talked to you guys about it but, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Instead I just hid. I hid the pain and the nightmares and the grief and the scars. I came off as a happy, sarcastic, annoying demigod with nothing to hide. I guess that's what I was going for, I guess it worked, but sometimes it just made it worse. I dunno... sometimes I could feel you guys getting annoyed with me and not wanting to talk to me and I understood why. I tried to stop but I just couldn't figure out how to. The voice in my head, it wouldn't leave me alone. I kept giving in," Leo said. He was in tears. Talking about it was hard for him. He had never talked about it before and now he was telling his friends. He couldn't hold it together anymore. He just wanted to cry. Calypso held his hand tight and ran her fingers through his hair trying to soothe him down. "My foster mom was right, I am a freak. I'm so sorry," Leo gasped through the tears.

"Oh, no, no, no, Leo, don't say that. You're not a freak at all, Leo, you're amazing. Please, Leo, you're one of the best people any of us have ever met. We all love you so much," they all reassured him as they bent down and looked in his eyes and tired to calm him.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Leo mumbled through his sobs. He could barely get the words out.

"Leo, what are you sorry for?" Piper asked him, touching his hand.

Leo took a breath. "For not telling you guys, for hiding everything, for being such an idiot, for letting my emotions get to me, for acting like an ass, for hurting myself so many times, for never saying anything. I'm sorry I'm such a mess up. I'm sorry I have so many scars. I'm so I never told you. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. _Lo siento, lo siento, lo siento._ I'm sorry." Leo couldn't stop crying now.

Calypso grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, the cover falling completely off his body, showing off every mark. The big 'FREAK' on his back glared at the rest of the group. The lines on his wrists could just barely be seen. Calypso hugged him tightly. Piper bent down and hugged him as well. Jason joined right after. Then Hazel, then Percy, then Annabeth, then Frank. Soon enough they were all hugging him in the world biggest group hug. Most of them were crying too. Their friend was in so much pain and they never even noticed. And they had been the cause of some of that pain. The guilt racked through all of them like heavy weights. They all had a lot of fixing to do. A lot of talking to have. It would take a while and it would be tough but they would get through it and they would figure it out together. Together they will heal.

"We love you, Leo," Calypso said into his ear.

"I love you guys, too," Leo whispered back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I really hope you enjoyed this short little story! Let me know how you felt about it down in the comments! Any comments are very much appreciated as always.


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